


The Shiroiwa Reaper

by kawada_s



Series: Main Universe: The Specials [2]
Category: Battle Royale - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 04:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12574076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawada_s/pseuds/kawada_s
Summary: The students of Class 3-B play a game for Halloween. Who will survive and ultimately claim the prize, and who will fall?





	The Shiroiwa Reaper

The Shiroiwa Reaper

It was never a good thing when Yukie Utsumi called a class meeting. Sure, Class 3-B has elected her as female class representative (mainly to shut her up), but they had immediately regretted the decision after she had made it her duty to ensure everyone in the class got along, was as happy as could be, and most of all, aware of all class events that she was organising. A class event may sound good in theory, but usually, all those organised by Yukie were a disaster… with “disaster” usually meaning painfully boring or embarrassing. Still, everyone had ended up coming to the class meeting… but that was only because Yukie was leaned against the classroom door, declaring no one could go to lunch until they were informed of her plan.

No one, _not even Mitsuko Souma,_ wanted to take on Yukie when she had a plan.

“So, is everyone ready to start?” Yukie beamed at her classmates. The longer they looked at her, the more she looked a little… _unhinged._

“Yeah,” the forty one other students in the room mumbled, accompanied by some groans. Yukie chose to ignore this, and went right into the plan she wanted to explain to them.

“So, as Shiroiwa Junior High Ninth Grade Class B’s female class representative, I consider myself the perfect fit for the role of holiday organizer. I think I have proven so far that I can handle this role. Valentine’s Day went off without a hitch, and-“

“All the roses were dead on arrival, the chocolate had melted, and the teddy bears were missing their stuffing,” Hirono Shimizu quipped from the back of the room. For a moment, Yukie’s smiley façade broke, replaced with a look of death, but she quickly pasted it back on. _Yeah…_ Yukie really didn’t seem ‘all there’ at times… but it was something the class attempted to ignore.

“ _Like I was saying_ ,” Yukie said through gritted teeth, “All of the previous holidays I have organised here at school have gone _relatively well_ , so I’m taking on the Halloween celebrations too. As Shiroiwa Junior High Ninth Grade Class B’s female class representative, it is my duty to bring a fun, safe, educational and joyful Halloween celebration to you all. That’s why I suppose we hold a Halloween bake sale to fundraise for the library, and then, after school, watch some wholesome, family-friendly spooky movies in the gym – with teacher’s approval, of course.”

Somewhere in the back of the room, someone snorted. A few people rolled their eyes, and others shook their heads.

“What?! What’s wrong with my excellent Halloween celebration plan?!” Yukie exclaimed, looking around the class in shock.

“Yukie…” Haruka began, feeling as her long time best friend and crush, it was her job to let her down gently. However, before she could, someone else jumped in and delivered the news instead.

“What Tanizawa means to say is that your Halloween plans fucking suck,” Ryuhei Sasagawa called out. Hiroshi Kuronaga laughed a little at his words, letting out a loud, irritating “oooooh,” to which he was quickly slammed into a table by Ryuhei. Yukie ignored the display, as everyone tried to do, knowing it wasn’t worth her time at all.

“Well… what do you suggest?!” Yukie said, the smile disappearing. As much as she tried to admit that she could, she was terrible at taking any sort of criticism – constructive or not.

“Literally anything else,” Mitsuko called out from her spot in the back left hand corner, slouched against a table. Yukie immediately decreed that has “outrageously unhelpful.”

After that, the class erupted into mumbling between the different peer groups as they all tried to come up with something better than Yukie’s plan for Halloween. The girl decided to allow them to, leaning against the table slightly, scanning the classroom as she tried to resist the urge to yell out for them all to quieten down. The class eventually did it after some prompting from someone else – Yoshimi Yahagi. The girl cleared her throat a few times until everyone quietened, eyes landing on her. Now a little shy, she took a few steps forward.

“I have an idea,” Yoshimi said. Yukie nodded at her to keep going, somewhat curious about what she had thought up – not that it would be better than _her_ plan, of course. “My sister played this game with her university friends last Halloween. People sign up… and you’re given someone to kill. Not really, of course – you just tap on their shoulder, and tell them that they’re dead. They have to be alone, and there’s some other rules, but as class rep, I thought you’d do that. When you kill someone, you now have to kill who they have to kill, and so on, until one person is left. Yeah… so… I thought that might be cool.”

For a moment, the room was silent as everyone took it in. She felt rather good about herself when she saw a few people send a smile her way. It definitely seemed like more her classmates’ style.

“So… for Halloween, we play a game where we pretend to kill our classmates?” Mitsuko flashed a smile at the girl – a rare occurrence. “ _Sick_.”

“I’m glad you agree with me, Souma!” Yukie entered the conversation once more. “What a horrible idea for Halloween! We should be forging meaningful friendships and making fond memories – not pretending to commit horrific, violent acts against one another!”

“Yukie…” Haruka sighed, trying once again to be some sort of voice of reason. “It could be really fun, who knows? Our classmates could really enjoy playing… and you could show off your good organisation skills. And you can’t really believe that our classmates would ever _actually_ kill one another, right?”

Yukie looked down at the ground, feeling a little embarrassed with herself, a few of her classmates smirking at the sight. Slowly, she looked up once more, giving a little nod. The smile returned to her face, one that was a little more _sane_ this time, as she recalled Yoshimi’s words, quickly putting together a plan. If there was one thing Yukie was amazing at, it was putting together complicated plans and rule lists rather quickly.

“All right… we shall do this for Halloween, then. Thank you, Yahagi,” the “thank you” was a little hard for her to get out, but she did it all the same. Yoshimi gave her a little nod. “I shall come around with forms to hand out when class commences again. Sign them if you would like to participate, and I’ll sort out the rest. That is all.”

Everyone began to disperse for lunch, Yukie gathering her belongings as she prepared to go to the library to get the forms ready. However, there was one question standing in her way before she could leave.

“Wait…” Mitsuko frowned a little, standing by the door. The classmates standing behind her tried not to glare at her, knowing it was suicide, but they just _really wanted to get to lunch._ “What’s the prize for winning? For killing a bunch of your classmates, you should damn well get a prize.”

“Um…” Yukie hated herself for hesitating, but picked herself up again quickly. “A trophy – a big trophy! Bragging rights. And… something special. A secret. Yes.”

Mitsuko gave her a little nod, somewhat satisfied with the answer. Once left alone in the room, Yukie allowed herself to collapse for a while. Hopefully, this event wouldn’t explode into anarchy, but with her class, who knew?

\---

The next day at school marked the beginning of the game. Yukie gave everyone who had signed up the name of another classmate, and had laid out some ground rules for the game. A person could not be killed outside of school grounds, during a lesson, anywhere inside the gym, or with another person with them. Other than that, while the phrase somewhat distressed her, they could go for their lives.

Once lunch hit, those playing were all a little on edge. Everyone thought a little more about their every move, about whether or not going to the bathroom or the rubbish bin or wherever they wanted to go was actually worth it or not, and mainly stuck together with their friends. Yukie noticed this as she sat with her group, it making her wonder if going along with Yoshimi’s idea actually was the right decision or not, but she tried to shake off the feeling. Her friends seemed excited enough.

“So… are any of you playing?” Yuka Nakagawa asked excitedly, reaching over to take a bit of Chisato Matsui’s lunch – the girl made a face, but then gave a laugh and a smile all the same. “I was going to sign up… but then remembered I’m not meant to be doing anything _reckless_ – weekend tennis match, remember? Norally I wouldn’t bother listening… but I think my mother would be pretty mad if I hurt myself.”

“Fair enough,” Haruka nodded, surprised yet relieved that the girl was making a responsible decision. “I signed up. I figured it could be fun. I’m not going to tell you who I have to go after – you’ll just have to see if I win..”

“I signed up too,” Izumi Kanai nodded, surprising the rest of them. She always looked so… _proper_ and was awfully quiet, some of them even thinking that she might even disprove of the game. That’s probably what she wanted everyone to think… “I figured it might be fun to have a shot. I’m not sure how far I’ll make it, but you never know.”

The rest of the group wished the two girls luck, deciding that they’d sit it out. Noriko Nakagawa was helping Yukie organise the project and was in charge of the prizes, and the only other person who knew who was playing and who had who – she had been hesitant to accept her assistance, but decided that she’d have to bite the bullet and do it. The only girl who hadn’t made her role in the game known was Satomi Noda, they realised a little later. She hadn’t said a word since they’d come out to lunch, face buried in her book – as per usual.

“Hey, Satomi?” Yuka poked her in the shoulder, never the one to be eloquent about interrupting her reading. At the sight of it only being Yuka, her frown faded. “Are you playing?”

“I don’t have time for games,” Satomi simply said, then went back to her book. It made sense. Sometimes, with the strict study schedule that she just about refused to break, it seemed like Satomi never had time for anything _remotely_ fun.

The complete opposite to Satomi, things were a little more… lively on the other side of the grounds. While they were (or rather, thought they were) the most fearsome gang  in school, the Kiriyama Family were also a major source of comedy. There was no doubt that all or most of them would be involved in the game, and there would definitely be some laughs as a result.

“So… we’re all playing here?” Hiroshi asked them all. Ryuhei tossed him a sandwich – egg salad – that he’d just stolen from Yoshio, taking a bite of his own as he took a seat beside him. Sho Tsukioka only shrugged at his comment, then went back to eating his own lunch. _Let’s let those losers spill their guts to one another._

“Thought it could make school suck a little less,” Ryuhei said. He tried to copy Sho’s shrug and casual nature, but failed miserably. He just looked like he was trying way too hard.

“What about you, Boss?” Mitsuru Numai completely ignored Hiroshi in favour of trying to catch the attention of Kazuo Kiriyama – who was his favourite person in the world, not counting family. “Are you gonna play? You’ll wipe the floor with everyone!”

“No, I’m not playing,” Kazuo responded several minutes later, once Mitsuru had managed to get his attention away from his book. “I flipped a coin to make my decision. If it came up heads, I’d sit out, but if it came up tails, I’d sign up for the game. Since the outcome was heads, I’m sitting out this one.”

“Shame, Boss… but I guess that it’s for the best in a way… I think you’d kick all our asses if you were playing!” Hiroshi let out a nervous laugh. The other members of the Kiriyama Family were going to glare at him, but yeah… he was probably right. “Speaking of kicking ass, who do you all have? God,  mine’s so easy. I can’t believe this person signed up!”

“My lips are sealed,” Mitsuru simply nodded, trying to sound sophisticated. He wasn’t too sure if it had worked or not.

“Who is it then, Hiroshi?” Ryuhei asked, kicking his legs against the wall he was sitting on. He almost toppled off it, just biting back a screech as he saved himself in the last moment. Sho, despite the fact it was pretty lame, couldn’t help but let out a snort. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

“All right,” Hiroshi got up, crossing his arms. “But only if you come to the garbage can with me. I don’t want some asshole sneaking up behind me and knocking me off.”

Surprisingly, Ryuhei nodded without any need to be persuaded, and with no snide remark about Hiroshi needing his protection. He simply gathered up his own garbage, hopped off the wall, and followed his friend to the garbage can. The nearest one was a little while away from the class’s usual lunch hangout spot (after a particularly nasty food fight incident the class had been banned from eating lunch inside), obscured by some trees, by a bench that losers in the seventh grade usually occupied. Now, Hiroshi realised that it seemed like a bit of a… freaky position for the garbage can, but tried to shrug the thought away.

_Ryuhei will protect me. Holy fuck – I never thought I’d ever be saying that._

The two disposed of their garbage in silence, feeling like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders due to the fact that they were protected for the meantime. Hiroshi almost forgot about the question he meant to as his friend, but remembered it before they could join their gang once more.

“Hey, weren’t you gonna tell me who you got?” Hiroshi looked up at his friend. Ryuhei gave him a nod and took a few steps closer to him. It appeared that he was trying to hide a smile, or some laughter. Had Ryuhei gotten someone he disliked to go after, like Toshinori Oda or Yoji Kuramoto?

“Yeah. ‘Course. But… do you really want to know?” Ryuhei asked.

“Uh, yeah. Otherwise I wouldn’t have fucking asked.”

When Ryuhei stepped closer, he braced himself for a punch for his rude remark. It was standard practice for them, really. The two beat each other up at least six times a week (or six times per day, on a really… intense one), so by now, he could basically sense when it was going to happen. However, Ryuhei had a surprise for him today. He went right up to him, poked him in a shoulder, and leaned in… whispering “you’re dead” into his ear.

“BRO! WHAT THE FUCK?!” Hiroshi screamed, punching Ryuhei in the stomach without another thought. He fell to the ground with tears in his eyes, but scrambled to his feet angrier than ever. He managed to talk himself out of punching Hiroshi back – it just wasn’t worth it. He had to keep his eyes on the prize.

“Sorry… it’s just the game,” Ryuhei shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad! I could of killed you in much worse of a way. Now c’mon, tell me who you got.”

Glaring the whole time, Hiroshi stepped closer to him, and whispered the name of the next target in Ryuhei’s ear, wishing he was instead ending his chances of winning the game. When the name entered his ears, he let out a loud laugh. Never in a million years would he ever imagine that a loser like _them_ would be playing. It would be such a piece of cake.

Izumi happened to look over at the time the two boys joined their group once more. They were trying to hide it, but it was obviously that something had changed. Hiroshi walked a little away from his friend, and refused to sit beside him again. There was… fear in his eyes. What she presumed had been the first casualty of the game had taken place, and she now felt quite on edge. Friend could easily turn on friend for the prize… absolutely anything could happen.

Gently, she reached over and tapped Satomi’s shoulder, pulling her attention away from her book once more. She presumed she was in a rather good mood that day, as usually, after being pulled away from her reading for the second time, she would have snapped, but instead just waited to hear Izumi’s explanation. She gave her a little smile as a “thank you,” for not biting her face off, and then went into what she wanted to say.

“Satomi… I was wondering if you could escort me to the bathroom? I… I know it’s an odd request, but I just don’t want anyone to come after me..” Izumi whispered to her. “I haven’t even come up with a strategy to get my person yet. _Anything_ could happen.”

“Sure,” Satomi nodded at her. She packed up her books and began to walk with her friend to the bathroom, giving their friends a little wave before she went. Despite the fact that she was now protected, Izumi linked her arm with hers, occasionally looking back to see if there was anyone… lurking in the hallways. They could be _just waiting_ for her to be alone again…

She made it to the bathroom without any suspicious sightings, Satomi waiting for her outside. When the girl came out, something had changed on her face, and uneasiness began to brew in her stomach. There was something in her eyes that she could just not pinpoint – was it _fear_ … or, upon a further inspection of the look in her eyes… _excitement?_

“I’m sorry,” Satomi said, voice eerily quiet as she took a few steps closer to her friend. Izumi was frozen in place, unsure what to think at all. “But… I have to do this. _You’re dead.”_

Izumi stood there in absolute shock for quite a while, trying to process what had just happened. _Satomi was playing. The girl was actually playing… and she seemed to be taking it seriously, too._

Well, that was certainly a game changer.

\---

Tatsumichi Oki had eaten his lunch inside that day. He often tried to avoid breaking rules, but tried to reason to himself that what he’d done was absolutely fine, considering the circumstances. The teachers would understand if they found out – it was a matter of life or death. Slowly, his rubbish balled up tightly in one hand, he opened the doors of the cupboard he’d been eating in, deciding it was time to try his chances outside. He couldn’t stay here forever…

He jumped out of the cupboard, narrowly hitting his head, peeling himself off the floor quickly. He looked over his shoulder every few seconds on his way to the rubbish bin, jumping back from it as soon as he had disposed to his trash. What if… somehow… someone had managed to _hide_ in there, just waiting for him? To his relief, no one popped out of it, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. Just in case anyone was lurking, ready to spring a last-chance attack, he dived towards the door.

The door opened and thrust Tatsumichi into the hall… right into the path of someone else. They hit the floor with a crash, him breaking the other person’s fall. Head throbbing, he blinked madly as he tried to get rid of his blurred vision, seeing one of the girls in the class getting up. That was what made him get up a little faster, feeling terrible for his actions.

“I-I’m sorry!” Tatsumichi yelled out (he didn’t mean to _yell_ , panic had just gotten to him). “Didn’t… didn’t expect someone to be right there.”

“It’s all right. I should be the one apologising,” the girl, who he now recognised as Sakura Ogawa said to him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. He had no time to question what she had meant, as before he knew what was happening, she had leaned in, poked his shoulder and whispered “you’re dead” in his ear.

Tatsumichi was not angry. Instead, he stepped back a little and let out a nervous laugh as pink spread through his cheeks. Sakura was blushing a little herself, but was relieved he hadn’t reacted rashly. She had signed up on a whim for a little fun, thinking that maybe as no one would suspect her of playing, she’d have a shot of winning, and could end up splitting the mysterious prize with her boyfriend, Kazuhiko Yamamoto.

“Guess you got me there,” Tatsumichi laughed a little more. “Silly me. Better luck next year- uh… yeah we won’t be here next year, will we? Uh… next time then, I guess. Good luck.”

Sakura gave him a smile and thanked him for being a good sport. They then went to part ways, before she remembered that she needed the name of her next target. This person could prove more of a challenge, she realised, but she hoped that she could carry it out all the same. Maybe Kazuhiko could help her come up with a plan…

After Tatsumichi and Sakura had left, the hallway became populated once again. Yuichiro Takiguchi came out from the library. He paced up and down, voicing some of his thoughts, while keeping others inside as he tried to figure out how to come up with a solution to the dilemma he was in. Even though the game was pretend… he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do something like that to her. While others may delight at the idea, the thought made him ill.

Despite the fact that she had no idea he existed – other than the time that she mistook him for a sixth grader that got lost on Shiroiwa Elementary School’s visitation day – Yuichiro thought rather fondly about Mitsuko. There had to be some reason behind the way she acted, and while that reason wasn’t his to know, he still felt the need to defend her when she came up in conversation. He was _definitely not_ going to kill her, whether it was real or not.

He only stopped pacing when he heard footsteps in the hallway. Shinji Mimura was walking towards him, a little smirk on his face. There was something… different in his eyes, but instead of attempting to run in fear, his feet stayed cemented in place. Shinji stopped when he was about a metre away from him, smirk off his face and stance casual.

“Hey, Takiguchi,” Shinji greeted him with a small shrug. Underneath his words, there seemed to be a little message of _‘what, aren’t you gonna run or something?’_ but he completely ignored it. If Shinji was the one out to get him, he was sure he could get the boy to get rid of him right here, right now.

Instead of responding to his greeting, Yuichiro just took a few steps closer to him, fell to his knees, and blurted out the first things that came to mind.

“You have me, don’t you? Please kill me! Please! I can’t carry out my task!”

Shinji looked at him as if he was on some sort of strong narcotic. Yuichiro just gave him a nod, not wanting to put himself through the begging again. Eventually, when Shinji remained frozen in place, he mouthed “please” at him, which was enough to kick him into action.

“Fine,” Shinji sighed. Once Yuichiro got up, he tapped him on the shoulder. “You’re dead.”

“Thank you!” Yuichiro cried. If he had been friends with him, he probably would have hugged him in that moment. Instead, he simply told Shinji who his target had been, and promptly went to join Tadakatsu Hatagami for lunch. Maybe if he won they could split the prize…

Once finding out that Yuichiro had to kill Mitsuko, he began to “understand” why he had been so desperate to be killed. There was no way he could pull it off… especially as he himself doubted he could do it, not that he would ever tell anyone. He’d have to come up with some strategy… and then the win would be his. He went to join his friends once more, the wheels in his head already turning.

As he walked away, Sho peeked out from behind a row of lockers, just observing for a moment. He could go up to him and kill him then and there… he’d be none the wiser until he whispered in his ear. But the view was just so _good._ There would have to be another chance to go after him later…

\---

This had to be the best idea Yoshimi had ever come up with – Mitsuko thought to herself. Killing her stupid classmates (well, not for real, of course, but it was good enough), with a mysterious prize at the end? It seemed pretty sweet. While she was sure that some of the others would start hunting as soon as lunch started, she had hung back for the day, piecing together the perfect plan to catch her first target. Once the bell signalled the end of the school day, it was time to put it in action.

She hid behind a small brick wall near the back school gate and the teachers’ car park, waiting. She had been there for fifteen minutes now, her target having showed up five minutes afterwards. Carefully, she lifted herself up a little to check up on her target, face contorting in disgust. _God…_ Yoshimi was _still_ making out with Yoji.

 _How fucking long does it take to say goodbye to a guy?_ Mitsuko thought to herself in anger. _Especially an ugly one…_

“I love you-“ Yoshimi began several minutes later, making Mitsuko let out a small sigh of relief. He had to be leaving _now_.

“Gotta go, Kazushi’s waiting for me,” Yoji said in response, and judging by the small whine that Yoshimi let out, Mitsuko figured that he had left without another word or action. _Asshole. Upsetting and letting Yoshimi down is_ my _job._

Mitsuko lifted herself up again a little, watching as Yoji and Kazushi Niida walked off in the distance, soon becoming indistinguishable blobs. Yoshimi stayed in place for a moment, staring down at the ground, before looking back at the school building. Mitsuko let out a smirk at the sight, waiting a little more patiently for her to realise that no one from her group would be coming out (she had seen Hirono leave with Sho a while ago).

When she walked away, it signalled the time to strike. She hauled herself over the wall, relieved when she landed the move, and began to bolt after the girl. Before she could realise she was coming, she let out a screech that made the girl just about jump several feet in the air.

“You’re dead,” Mitsuko whispered to her before she could even think about recovering. For a minute, she wondered if she had done enough to give the girl a heart attack.

“Mitsuko?!” Yoshimi squeaked, taking a few deep breaths before she could get out the rest of her words. Tears filled her eyes. “Why… why?! I thought we were _sisters!”_

“I want a prize. And scaring you seemed like fun,” was the only explanation Mitsuko gave her. Yoshimi let out a sound Mitsuko figured would come out of a dying cat, and was immediately driven the urge to get her away as soon as possible. “Come on. Tell me who you got.”

“O-Oda,” Yoshimi stammered out, and then ran off. Mitsuko rolled her eyes. This was just a game, and the girl was weak. They’d be “buddies” again by tomorrow – not that Yoshimi was something in the forefront of her mind.

Yes, Yoshimi was definitely not what she was worried about at the moment. Instead, it was Toshinori who was occupying most of the space in her mind. She tried not to think of the ugly, rude frog-faced boy (unless she was thinking about stealing his wallet), but now she would be content to think about him all day… or rather, about scaring the shit out of him. She had not seen him come out of school yet, so she figured she had a chance of catching him. _Two kills in an afternoon? Hell yes._

Luckily, Mitsuko did not have to wait long for Toshinori to surface. She looked up for a moment and saw a fancy car – the boy’s driver _(lucky asshole)_ – pull up outside the gates. Carefully, she turned her head and the boy pushed open the back doors of the school, head held high, violin case in hand. Mitsuko did not know how a boy so revolting was able to have such a high opinion about himself.

She wasn’t as careful as she was with Yoshimi, wanting to wipe the smile off his face as soon as possible, so she hauled herself off the wall as soon as he passed it. Like she had with her “friend,” she let out a yell – a little louder this time – that made him yell as well and, more importantly, drop his violin case on the floor. She hoped so badly that the instrument inside had acquired some damage. It would just be the thing to make her day.

“You’re dead,” Mitsuko declared, a large grin on her face. Toshinori scrambled to pick up his violin case and turned to face her. His face was red and nostrils flaring, but she could still see some fear in his eyes.

“You… you vulgar bitch!” Toshinori yelled. “You ruined my violin! _MY VIOLIN!_ You’ll be hearing from my lawyer if it has sustained any mortal wounds!”

“Go ahead, Frog Boy,” Mitsuko shrugged as he began to storm off. She only showed a sign of caring when she remembered that there was something that she needed from him. “Hey, wait! You better give me the name of who you had before you fuck off!”

“TSUKIOKA!” Toshinori yelled out as he opened the door to the car. “I WISH I NEVER SIGNED UP FOR THIS VULGAR ACTIVITY!”

Mitsuko laughed a little to herself as the car drove off, cutting herself off once she could no longer see him. Sho would be a little more of a challenge, she knew… but she would be able to handle it. All she had to do was come up with a plan, but that would have to come tomorrow. She had done enough killing for one day.

\---

“The first day of the game was off to a… _riveting_ start,” Yukie announced to the class at the beginning of lunch the next day. It still felt quite odd to describe a game that featured the mock killing of her classmates as ‘riveting,’ but she forced herself to go with it – everyone seemed to be having fun. “The following people are out of the game: Hiroshi Kuronaga, Izumi Kanai, Tatsumichi Oki, Yoshimi Yahagi and Toshinori Oda. The rest of you: enjoy the rest of the game, and _stay safe._ Now, you all may go to lunch – we’ve even been given the privilege of eating lunch in the classroom again!”

Despite the fact that their indoor lunch privileges had been given back, everyone had ended up heading outside to eat lunch save for Takako Chigusa and Hiroki Sugimura, which had worked out well. She’d wanted to get some time with him somewhere where they would be undisturbed – so she could run her plan by him. Hiroki had decided to stay out of the game, not even a fan of getting involved with _mock_ violence, but Takako was playing, and wanted to win. The trophy would look quite nice next to her new jewellery box, and she could split the mystery prize with Hiroki and Kahoru.

“So, what did you want to tell me about?” Hiroki asked once the class had dispersed. He passed her over a bit of his lunch – it had become a habit of them to trade lunch over the years, despite the fact they probably should have grown out of it several years ago.

“My plan, which will hopefully be my gateway to winning the game… and that lovely trophy,” Takako smiled a little, taking a bite of lunch. “Things worked out… surprisingly well. I was able to develop a plan rather quickly. I got… _the bastard. Niida._ ”

“I guess that did work out quite well,” Hiroki nodded at her. He was going to ask her if she knew what she was doing, before remembering that well, it was _Takako_. It was no secret that she absolutely hated Kazushi, and getting him in the game had probably made her day. “What are you planning?”

“A trap. Ugh. It killed me… but I slipped this letter in his locker this morning, filled with all the bullshit that I knew he’d eat up,” Takako rolled her eyes. Kazushi had to be the dumbest – and grossest – boy on the planet. “He’s probably seen it by now, of course… and will definitely want to talk to me about it. That’s when I take him out. If he gets mad, I can sort him out.”

Hiroki nodded along, knowing Takako could definitely sort Kazushi out if she needed to. Everyone had seen her beat him up at least once during the school year so far, but the boy never got the message whatsoever. Even after he cussed her out and exhibited increasingly disgusting behaviours, he would always still come around and say he loved her, no matter what. She couldn’t wait to be rid of him… but for now, this would do.

“I’ll go check outside for him,” Takako got up from her seat. Hiroki mouthed “good luck” at her, and she shot him a smile. Sure, killing him was going to be fun, but still, it meant that she would have to be… near him for far too long.

She poked her head out the classroom door and was greeted with the sight of Ryuhei. The boy was running down the hallway, screeching (she hadn’t heard him yell like that since he’d been locked in an ostrich cage during a class trip)… apparently because of Hirono. The spiky haired girl ran after him, shouting taunts, it extremely obvious that she would not leave him alone until she finally got him.

Takako slinked back inside. Not the biggest fan of Ryuhei (really, who was?), she decided to let Hirono have her fun. She waited for several minutes, her and Hiroki existing in awkward silence as they listened out for the screeching to stop. When she swore it had, she left again, now finding the hallway empty. She heard a small sound of weeping from around the corner. _Shimizu must have gotten him. I didn’t think the idiot would last very long._

She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her blazer and leaned casually against a locker, waiting to see if he would show up. _Speak of the devil._ Kazushi showed up only a minute or so later, a grin filling his face when she saw her. It was enough to make her both want to be sick, and punch him in the face.

“Was wondering when you’d come and find me,” Takako was careful to keep her tone guarded. She didn’t want to sound flirty or interested, but at the same time, couldn’t let herself sound like she’d rather have pins stuck in her eyes than speak with him. It had to be just enough. She figured she’d gotten it right, but then again, the boy seemed to believe anything when it came to the topic of her actually being interested in him.

“Of course I was going to,” Kazushi gave her the most disgusting grin she’d ever seen in her life. She wasn’t sure if this was influenced by his bad teeth, the look in his eyes, or the fact that it was _Kazushi._ “It took you long enough, you know.”

“Well, I’ve finally come around,” Takako controlled her tone again, feeling as if she was going to throw up. It would be over in the next few seconds. She took a deep breath and allowed him to step closer to her, placing a neatly manicured finger on his shoulder before he could get _too_ close. “You’re dead.”

After that, Kazushi completely exploded. He let out a scream and began to call Takako every curse word under the sun. She was largely unaffected by this, and let him carry on like a child as she walked away. She wouldn’t bother asking for his target – she could just text Yukie and get the name off her, she’d understand. While she pretended that the class were one big happy family, everyone could see that she hated Kazushi too.

She pulled out her phone to text the class representative, seeing a text from Hiroki there when the screen lit up, telling her to meet him in the outside grounds. She smiled a little at the sight, shooting off messages to her close friend and the class rep. She took the long way around, the only sound in the hallway being the jingling of her bracelets, until she happened to pass by the gym.

“That… that was not fair!” Sho whined. His eyes were the size of dinner plates, and he was shaking a little due to his shock. Mitsuko simply smirked at him, evil in her eyes. Shuddering a little at the sight, Takako promptly left.

“Sorry,” Mitsuko shrugged, it obvious that she didn’t mean it whatsoever. “I appreciate that you were checking out an attractive guy, but _I want to win._ ”

After Sho mumbled the name of his target to her, he shuffled off in shame. She let out a little laugh and pressed herself up to the wall outside the gym, deciding to wait for her target, Shinji, to come out. A smirk filled her face again when he strolled out, looking as if he was on top of the world. She put an end to that rather quickly, just able to restrain herself from screaming out the words “you’re dead.”

Shinji actually looked a little shocked at her action, but quickly tried to hide it. It didn’t matter – she still saw it. He gave her the name of his target – _herself_ – and strolled away, allowing her to deal with the mess herself. For a moment, excitement filled her, and she wondered if that had meant that she had won by default. Unfortunately, this theory was debunked as soon as she met with her.

Instead, she was given a new target. A smile spread across her lips upon hearing her name. _Takako Chigusa._

\---

“Hiroshi, come on! Hurry up!” Mitsuru called out into the bathroom. When he got no response, he swore under his breath and went back outside again, the ill feeling in his stomach swirling around again. Above him, he heard an… odd sound in the ceiling and he couldn’t help but jump – it was the only time he was grateful he was alone. Were those sounds going to signal his demise?

To be truthful, he wasn’t sure if he was going to play… or rather, wasn’t sure if he _could_ play. Sure, he had signed up, hated the thought of being of killed and really wanted to win… but when he had signed up, he hadn’t been counting on getting a girl as his target. Especially such a kind girl like Sakura. Winning would be nice… but could he really kill her (even if it was all pretend?) It had been something tormenting him all day.

 _I’m sure she would understand…_ Mitsuru thought to himself, trying to distract himself from yet another weird noise in the ceiling. _But my_ ethics _. It’s only a game… but I still can’t kill a girl. I can’t. But-_

He stopped himself mid-thought at let another sound in the ceiling – only this time, it managed to sound even creepier. Suddenly, he was into the game well and truly and decided he would do anything to live… and to do that, Hiroshi would have to hurry the fuck up. He walked into the bathroom and screamed that very fact at his friend, the boy telling him to fuck off in response.

Annoyed, Mitsuru turned to head back outside again, finding himself face to face with… _Satomi_. He had never really noticed the girl much, only knowing the basics about her (that she was an absolute nerd), but in this moment, he had all the knowledge that he needed to know about her. She was just about infringing on his personal space, and had a creepy look on her face.

“You’re dead,” Satomi proclaimed, before he had the chance to do or say anything. “Now, may I have your target?”

“O-O-Ogawa…” Mitsuru stammered, staring into space as she walked off, pleased as punch.

Had that… really happened? God, Hiroshi and the rest of the gang were going to give him hell for it.

\---

Not long after Mitsuru had met his shocking end at the hands of Satomi, the sporting clubs had begun to come out. Hoping that the baseball team had finished before volleyball, Tadakatsu made his way to the gym, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that the girls were heading towards the end of their practice. With more care than he had taken in a long time, he crouched down behind a pile of equipment, hoping desperately that he wouldn’t fuck it up. He _had_ to win this.

Luck seemed to be on his side, as from what he could hear, Haruka, his target, seemed to be the last person left in the gym. When he heard footsteps approaching, he felt a little less like he had things under control. While he was taller and bigger than her, he still had the strong feeling that she could easily tear him in pieces… even if she didn’t really seem like the type of girl to do such a thing.

When he was sure he was going to see her, he tried to busy himself with finding a suitable cover story. Trying not to fall over, he began to place some of the equipment back in one of the bags, not even sure if he was putting it all in the right place… or what some of it even was. It didn’t matter, really. All that mattered was getting out of this gym with Haruka, and getting the job done.

“Oh, Hatagami..” Haruka jumped back a little when she saw him, it safe to say that she didn’t expect to see a teenage boy crouched down behind the pile of equipment. His eyes bulged when he saw her, and he was almost going to panic, confess everything and probably fall over at some point during all that, but he pulled himself back into the game at the last moment. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh… uh…” Tadakatsu laughed nervously, still dangerously close to blurting out everything. “Coach asked us to help the volleyball girls pack up for the day. The others just went off but… I figured I’d help. Yuichiro has something on with his family this afternoon, so I was free. Haha. Yeah. Free…”

“All right, then,” Haruka picked up two of the bags, almost hitting Tadakatsu in the face with one by accident. He let out a small squeak and tumbled over. While she ignored it all, simply going to the sports storeroom to put the bag away, his eyes still bulged with fear. _She knows… she knows…_

Still, trying to avoid suspicion, he picked up a bag of his own, almost dropping it on his feet a few times on the way to the storeroom due to his nerves. Haruka had thought it was weird, but decided to give the boy the benefit of the doubt. He couldn’t get her while she was in the gym… and she’d feel pretty bad if she’d driven away the boy if he had purely wanted to _help._

Once the equipment was packed up, she wiped some sweat from her forehead and let out a sigh of relief, gathering her gym bag from the side of the room. When she turned around to see Tadakatsu gone, she got suspicious once more, but simply told herself that the game must be getting to her. Of course he wasn’t going to stick around… they barely knew one another, and it would probably be horrendously awkward as a result of that. She wasn’t the best with making conversation with essentially strangers.

When she left the gym, however, she realised she had made a grave mistake.

As soon as both feet had been implanted in the hallway and the doors of the gym shut behind her, a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She saw Tadakatsu there, as somewhat expected after feeling the hand, a sorrowful look in his eyes. She gave him a slightly bored look, as if to say, “go ahead, do it” and he took a deep breath, mumbling the words “you’re dead.”

After the band aid was ripped off, they shared a small, awkward laugh, parting ways after Haruka told him the name of her target. It had went much better than he had expected, to be honest.

Not long after Tadakatsu and Haruka had left school, Mitsuko came out of a classroom, making her way through the hallway to figure out a better hiding spot. The track team had to be coming out soon – she had checked the schedule carefully during the day – and she was determined to catch Takako before she left for the day. _God, she thinks she’s so perfect. With her stupid hair and stupid tacky jewellery and fucking dumb-_

_Come on, you idiot. Focus._

She pressed herself up against a row of lockers – the standard hiding spot for 3-B students, it seemed over the past few days – and waited to catch a sight of her target. She smirked a little when she saw the sight of the orange streaks in her hair shine in the sunlight streaming in from the school doors up ahead. _Perfect._ Her smirk remained on her face as she prepared to lunge out and deliver the “killing blow,” but she stopped in her tracks as soon as she observed the scene again.

She was… _with someone_. Sugimura. She was sure that they were hooking up, but nothing had ever been proven, and they always insisted that they were only friends. _Sure, maybe – but I bet that_ she _wants it._ In frustration, she hit her head against the locker, sending a bang through the hallway.

“What was that?” Hiroki turned to his friend. Takako, who had caught sight of Mitsuko just barely as she passed by the row of lockers, just shrugged, the sound of her pendant jingling against another one echoing around the hallway. Before they went on, however, she decided to have a little fun.

“Probably nothing. Maybe just some _bothersome rodent_.”

Mitsuko gritted her teeth as they walked on.

\---

The next morning was eventful even before Yukie got to giving everyone the game updates. Satomi cornered Sakura as she walked away from a long make out session with Kazuhiko before school and put an end to her hopes of winning the game, then got Tadakatsu after trying an old “hey, I think this wallet might be yours trick.” She was sure she was going to win, but she wasn’t alone in that feeling. Mitsuko still thought she was a shoo-in, but she still needed to catch Takako first…

“Good morning, classmates,” Yukie beamed at her classmates as she prepared to give the latest game update at lunch. “Before I start, I would like to give everyone some sad news. Hirono Shimizu is out of the game, in the wake of an unfortunate rollerblading incident. I will be organising a class “get well soon” card project for her.”

Yoshimi smiled in approval at the idea, already thinking of what she could draw on her friend’s card. From her spot next to her, Mitsuko snorted, thinking about what the girl would say when delivered with the card. It was going to be _gold_. But now was not the time to think about that – she had to focus all her attention on listening to _everything_ about the game.

“As the result of that, I will be messaging a player the name of another that they must now target. Each of these things has been chosen with the use of a number generator – to make it fair, of course,” Yukie nodded at her classmates. By this point, everyone was bored as hell, and just wanted to see who was out. “So… everyone that is no longer in the game – better luck next time - listed in the order that they were eliminated are: Kazushi Niida, Sho Tsukioka, Shinji Mimura, Mitsuru Numai, Haruka Tanizawa, Sakura Ogawa and Tadakatsu Hatagami. Wow, that certainly is a lot of you! We’re down to the final day now, I predict.”

“Fuck it would be fun to watch that go down,” Ryuhei said. Now that he was out of the game, he thought it was stupid, and would relish in seeing his classmates make fools of themselves. A few of his classmates nodded in agreement.

“Well, we could!” Yoshimi said enthusiastically. “We could watch it in the office – there’s security cameras in some room there,  think. It’s kinda freaky, when you think of it, hey?”

“No, no, no! We can’t do that!” Yukie yelled, but was drowned out by the yells of approval.

It was harder than she thought it would being the class representative.

\---

At the end of the day, the game was still on. It seemed like the remaining contenders had decided to wait to have a final showdown at the end of the school day. Mitsuru and Kazuo had managed to sneak everyone into the room housing the school’s CCTV cameras (save for Kazushi, Yoji and Toshinori), and they were now all crowded around the screen, trying to get a good look at the action.

So far, things were a little weak. Mitsuko was pacing around the track field, searching behind plants, in lockers, even in _bags_ for Takako, overcome with desperation. Takako was tearing classroom after classroom apart for Satomi, but her search was fruitless… the girl just could not be found anywhere, and she was almost completely at a loss. Where else would that nerd be? She was sure she had only survived by chance – there was no way that she actually had game.

“Maybe she packed up and went home,” Hiroshi laughed. Everyone that had faced Satomi’s wrath just looked at him quietly with wide eyes, promptly getting the message.

They watched as on one monitor, Mitsuko gave up her search on the track field and began to bolt inside, determination in her eyes, while on another, Takako tossed a textbook down on the table of a classroom… then stopped for a moment. Slowly, she looked up at the ceiling, confusion spreading across her face. Mitsuru stabbed the image with his finger.

“The noises… the ceiling noises! I’m not alone!” he cried. Everyone looked at him as he were crazy, leading him scrambling to explain himself. “Before… before Satomi killed me, I heard noises in the ceiling.”

“Must be a weird coincidence,” Hiroshi, definitely not the most observant of the class. On the other side, Chisato Matsui sat, watching a monitor carefully to see if Satomi appeared.

“Maybe… she’s in the vents?” Chisato said. Everyone raised an eyebrow, but when they heard some noises in the ceiling above them – the office not too far from the classroom where Takako was, they began to wonder if maybe she was.

“Wow… that’s like, next-level,” Yoshimi thoughtfully commentated.

Everyone ignored her, and instead watched the screens. Takako decided to leave the classroom after that, ready to go into one last room, before hearing the thundering of footsteps down the hallway. Looking back to see Mitsuko coming towards her, she bolted. As Takako was a school track star and Mitsuko absolutely hated any activity that involved running, it was obvious who won out in the race.

Still, Mitsuko did not give up, even when the class was sure she was going to collapse and actually die. Instead, the two girls continued to run through the hallways, Mitsuko shouting taunts at her. Eventually, she stopped this, seeing as she could barely breathe anymore, let alone bully anyone, and focused all her energy on pursuing the girl.

Mitsuko was not going down without a fight. She really, really wanted that prize.

“Hey, look!” Yuka pointed to one of the screens. Around half of the class shifted from watching the Takako vs Mitsuko race to the screen, to see Satomi… climbing out of the vents, just as Chisato had thought. Their friend group smiled a little, quite surprised by her dedication, but still, they doubted that she’d be able to win against Takako and Mitsuko.

Satomi got up and dusted herself off, fixing her glasses as she reached the door of the classroom. She peeked outside, hearing the thundering of footsteps, and ducked down as she saw Takako and Mitsuko creep by. The class collectively gasped when they saw what had happened… Takako had reached a dead end.

With far too much joy on her face, Mitsuko cornered the girl, jabbing her in the shoulder.

“YOU’RE DEAD! YES! I WON! I WON! NO ONE FUCKS WITH MITSUKO S-“

“Ahem,” Satomi said from behind. “You’re dead.”

Again, the class all gasped, all frozen for a moment as they took in what Satomi had done. Takako, quickly getting over the loss, began to laugh. Mitsuko stayed frozen for a long while. _Had… had… had Satomi really done that?!_

“I better go get the trophy,” Yukie rushed out. The class followed her on the trip to collect it, and together, they all greeted Satomi by the dead end of the hallway. Mitsuko was still frozen, and Takako still laughing. “Congratulations, Satomi. You’re the first ever Shiroiwa Reaper.”

“Want to join our gang?” Hiroshi asked her.

“No,” Satomi said to him simply, then took the trophy from Yukie. She made no congruatulatory speech – she only let out a loud war cry that horrified them all. Some of them hadn’t even seen Satomi _speak_ before.

Satomi returned to normal the next day, but no one would ever forget the fact that she was the Shiroiwa Reaper. It had been the weirdest, craziest, and most of all, _shocking_ Halloween ever.


End file.
